Bugging Out with Bugs and Slugs – A Halloween Treat

So, I bugged out with an easy dessert using a recipe from Taste of Home’s September/October issue! The recipe is called Frosted Pistachio Bars. They kind of taste like a cookie/cake combination…but more like a soft cookie than anything. I can see a lot of variations could be done with this bar, but here’s one I came up with for Halloween. Then again, my kids (who aren’t THAT young) loved this, so maybe it’s good for crazy kids who like candy bugs and slugs on their food.

The dessert is so easy to make, and the fun part is finding new ways to decorate it.

I created the bugs and slugs using a variety of candies. Tootsie Roll assortments are great because you can use the different colored Tootsie Rolls and form them into things like snails, meal worms, and inch worms. I rolled the Tootsie Rolls in my hands to shape them and marked them with little marks to make them look more worm-like (you can use a knife just to make little cuts into the candy). For the snails, I rolled out two different colors, twisted them together, rolled a shell, and let one of the Tootsie Rolls extend further for the snail’s head. I formed two antennae for the top.

I used Rips candy for centipede legs. I separated a bit on each side of the Rips. Then, I put a little leftover frosting from the bowl onto the Rips and stuck them to Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers. I also used Rips for some antennae on mini Mars candy bars. Somehow, the Twix disappeared from the bag before I could use them…hmmmm…

For the colorful spiders, I cut up colored Twizzlers and placed Dots candy on the top. I used Twizzlers for most of the legs. Rips also came into play for some legs. Twizzlers were great to hold up my M&M’s to make more little bugs. Whoppers and M&M’s also gave me some great bugs lying in the frosting. Milk Duds made nice little bugs in the rug of the frosting. I applied strips of Twizzlers over the top of the Milk Duds because they looked like a pet rock of sorts without anything added to them except eyes.

I sliced some Dots in half and cut pieces for a middle contrast. They stuck together easily, so they were simply made crawling creatures.

The eyes and legs of some of the bugs were applied using an assortment of Cake Mate writing gels. You could always make a small amount of frosting and color it to do the same, but it won’t take much to apply eyes and legs.

There you have it…bugs and slugs. They taste relatively good too. I’m surprised the Whoppers made it considering they are one of my favorite, but I held back for the sake of art.

If you have any pictures you’d like to share of your project, send them to me via my facebook page! Let your imagination run wild!